Midwest National Fulfillment Company Saves Online Retailer Thousands

The developed St. Louis infrastructure made it an ideal location for national fulfillment.

Business Situation: A clothing manufacturer needed a national fulfillment partner to keep up with their growth and expanding customer demands. Headquartered on the West coast, the company had slowly expanded its customer base nationally with clientele from coast-to-coast. Their California warehouse was efficient when the company served customers in the west, but it was too far from the majority of the American consumers to serve as the central distribution point for the entire country and to keep up with the growing business.

They knew they needed to relocate their national fulfillment to the Midwest, Initially Chicago seemed a perfect choice for their national fulfillment needs, but they found the labor and real estate costs too high and it was too far north for their large customer base in Texas and in the south.

Kansas City was eliminated for a lack of transportation lanes and higher freight costs. Memphis was a logical option, but with only two major interstates the freight costs were too high and delivery times still too slow. Eventually it was clear that St. Louis was the best national fulfillment option. St. Louis had all the benefits of the Midwest with lower labor and real estate costs than Chicago, and it also had direct access to the entire United States with four major interstates converging in one place then branching out to the four corners of the country.

With 59% of business transacted east of the Mississippi, the new location helped lower the cost and cut the shipping time to the majority of their customer base.

FW Solution: After a quick study of the situation, the customer concluded that a national fulfillment warehouse located in St. Louis was the best option. The reduced shipping times quickly increased online orders and improved customer satisfaction. The developed St. Louis infrastructure made it an ideal location for national fulfillment.

Benefits: The clothing retailer found an inexpensive centrally located national fulfillment solution. With 59% of business transacted east of the Mississippi, the new location helped lower the cost and cut the shipping time to the majority of their customer base.

FW Warehousing is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri with Midwest warehouse distribution centers in Kansas City, Indianapolis and St. Louis totaling more than four million square feet. Founded in 1949 with a focus on food-grade storage, FW later broadened its services to include contract warehousing, dry storage, hazardous material and chemical storage, temperature-controlled storage, product distribution and B2B and B2C fulfillment.

FW Warehousing has more than 50 years of experience in third-party 3PL logistics and has been ranked in the top 100 Third Party Logistic Companies in the country by Inbound Logistics magazine.